Dr Kayesha Coley

Kayesha is a Royal Society Career Development Fellow at the University of Leicester, leading genomic research to uncover the biological mechanisms underlying bronchiectasis and advance therapeutic development. Her work focuses on integrating large scale multi-omic data to identify genetic determinants and molecular pathways involved in the pathophysiology of bronchiectasis and related respiratory conditions.

During her PhD in Genetic Epidemiology, Kayesha led several international pharmacogenomic studies investigating the genetic determinants of drug response, including the effectiveness of smoking cessation pharmacotherapy and adverse reactions to commonly prescribed cardiovascular medications. Kayesha’s wider research interests include the genomics of understudied conditions, including chronic cough and chronic pain, as well as increasing diversity and global representation in genomic studies.

Di Lorenzo, B., Camargo Tavares, L., … Coley, K., et al. (2026). Cross-definition GWAS of IBS in 2.8 million individuals reveals cardiometabolic and triglyceride-linked mechanisms. Gut. gutjnl-2026-338800.

Piga, N.-N., Portelli, M. A., Shrine, N., Chen, J., Packer, R., Coley, K., et al. (2026). Genome-wide association study of asthma with high treatment burden and/or worse outcomes defined using electronic healthcare data in UK Biobank. ERJ Open Research. 00327-2026.

Chen, J., Shrine, N., Coley, K., et al. (2026). Proteome-wide Mendelian randomization analyses to identify potential therapeutic targets for lung function and respiratory disease. ERJ Open Research. 00828-2025

Maier, L., Sun, Y., Kronberg, J., Abner, E., Coley, K., et al. (2026). Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of food allergy and IgE sensitization. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 158(1):194-208. 

Coley, K. & Batini, C. (2026). Genetics of smoking behaviours. In: Part I – Bodies and Health Entanglements. Tobacco Through Time: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Hunt, C., Yoon, H-J., Lirio, A., Coley, K., et al. (2025). Genome-Wide Insights Into the Genes and Pathways Shaping Human Foveal Development: Redefining the Genetic Landscape of Foveal Hypoplasia. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. 66(12):22-22.

Packer, R. J., Coley, K., Williams, A.T., et al. (2025). Genome-wide association study of neuropathic pain phenotypes implicates loci involved in neural cell adhesion, channels, collagen matrix formation and immune regulation. PAIN. 167(2):284-296. 

Coley, K., John, C., Ghouse, J., et al. (2025). Genomics of chronic dry cough unravels neurological pathways. European Respiratory Journal. 66(3):2402341.

Fawcett, K. A., Hall, R.J., Packer, R., Coley, K., et al. (2025). The role of the ADRB2 Thr164Ile variant in lung function determination, plasma proteome variability and other phenotypes in UK Biobank. ERJ Open Research. 11(6):00330-2025.

Coley, K., Wang, Q., Packer, R., et al. (2025). Genome-Wide Association Study of Varenicline-Aided Smoking Cessation. Nicotine & Tobacco Research. 27(10):1684-1694

Venkatesh, S. S., Ganjgahi, H., Palmer, D. S., Coley, K., et al. (2024). Characterising the genetic architecture of changes in adiposity during adulthood using electronic health records. Nature Communications. 15, 5801.

Williams, A. T., Chen, J., Coley, K., et al. (2023). Genome-wide association study of thyroid-stimulating hormone highlights new genes, pathways and associations with thyroid disease. Nature Communications. 14, 6713.

Shrine, N., Izquierdo, A. G., … Coley, K., et al. (2023). Multi-ancestry genome-wide association study improves resolution of genes, pathways and pleiotropy for lung function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Nature Genetics. 55, 410–422.

Piga, N.-N., Boua, P. R., … Coley, K., et al. (2022). Genetic insights into smoking behaviours in 10,558 men of African ancestry from continental Africa and the UK. Scientific Reports. 12, 18828.

Ranganathan, R., Haque, S., Coley, K., et al. (2020). Multifaceted Genes in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis-Frontotemporal Dementia. Frontiers in Neuroscience. 14, 684. 

• Royal Society Career Development Fellowship (4-year Award starting January 2026)
• British Association for Lung Research Early Career Investigator Award Finalist (2026)
• Asthma + Lung UK Early Career Investigator Award – Finalist (British Thoracic Society Winter Meeting, 2024)
• University of Leicester College of Life Sciences PhD Prize (2023-2024)
• Invited to attend the 72nd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (2023) as a Young Scientist, supported by a Bayer Foundation Fellowship
• UK Biobank Doctoral Student of the Year (2022)

PhD Genetic Epidemiology, University of Leicester

MSc Genomic Medicine, The University of Sheffield

BSc (Hons) Biochemistry & Genetics, The University of Sheffield